This invention relates to a slot machine with reels driven by motors and, more particularly, an improved reel drive machine which can cause the reels to suddenly start rotation at a high speed after slight delay period from the start of motors.
In usual prize-winning game slot machine, a plurality of juxtaposed reels each having a plurality of symbol patterns provided on the outer periphery at a predetermined pitch are simultaneously caused to start rotation by pulling a handle after inserting a given number of coins or tokens into a coin slot. After the start of their rotation, the individual reels are successively brought to a stop by depressing respective stop buttons or after the lapse of periods determined by random timers. When all the reels are stopped, a combination of symbol patterns on the respective reels is obtained on a symbol display window line. If this symbol pattern combination is a prize-winning one, a number of coins corresponding to the probability of occurrence of this combination are paid out from a pay-out slot.
In the most general slot machine of this kind, kick levers are provided for the respective reels and are operated by the handle to cause the rotation of reels. Recently, slot machines of motor drive type, in which the reels are secured to the shafts of respective pulse motors, have become available on the market. In this type of slot machine using pulse motors, the start and stop of the reel rotation are controlled solely by the pulse motors. Also, the positions, at which the reels are brought to a halt, can be detected through the counting of pulses supplied to the pulse motors. The machine thus can be simplified in construction and be provided at a reduced cost.
Generally, the pulse motor starts rotation with a lowest initial speed, which is gradually increased to reach a constant speed. The reel driven by the pulse motor is thus started slowly. On the other hand, in the slot machine of the mechanical drive type using the kick levers, the reel is driven by an impact force applied by kicking it. That is, its rotation can be started at a high speed from the outset. The history of the slot machine of the mechanical drive type is quite long, and there is a strong concept that the high initial speed start noted above is the regular mode of operation of the slot machine. Conceptionally, therefore, it is desirable that the slot machine of the motor driven type be started in the same mode of starting as in the slot machine of the mechanical drive type, i.e., the reels be caused to start rotation at a high initial speed.